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what to grow, what not to grow
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Posted by randyinmissouri missouri (randywybrant@hotmail.com) on Sun, Nov 14, 04 at 21:27
| i have a great spot for a vegatable stand. Right behind a busy country store. i have about 1/2 acre to work with. i have blackberries, rhubarb, asparagus, strawberries, raspberries, bush cherries, gooseberries. Of course i'm going to grow tomatoes, greenbeans, corn and peppers. i'm concedering taking out my fruit trees to plant more blackberries and strawberries. the yeild is just so much higher. even my asparagus and rhubarb look like a waste of space. the bush cherries also look like a waste also. I know variety is good. but space is limited. the goose berries and raspberries don't look good yeild wise, but the plants and cuttings from the gooseberries make them more profitable.
what do you think
randy |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: what to grow, what not to grow
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| The yield is only a tiny part of the story. We find that wahat matters most is how much labor goes into each crop. For example, we can't make any money on green beans unless we charge $4/pound. The nice thing about asparagus and rhubarb is that all you have to do is show up and pick them, and maybe add nutrients and weed once a season. Berries need to be weeded, pruned, and possibly managed for disease. Depending on the fruit trees, they might take a lot or a little work. I wouldn't rip out any established perennial plants until you have gone a seson or two keeping track of the time that you spend on them. Also, consider what others around you can offer: anybody with a backyard garden can grow tomatoes and corn, but perennial crops are something special and expensive to establish, so they are more rare. Berry crops, expecially, don't travel well, so yours are likely to be better quality and possibly even less expensive than buying those little clamshells at the grocery store. That's what you want to draw in customers: something that they can't get anywhere else. Then they'll buy other stuff while they're there. Katey |
RE: what to grow, what not to grow
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Katey,
That's excellant advise for just about anyone, growing anything! Thanks.
Cheryl |
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